DENSE PACKING

Though it varies across races, there are 70 - 100 follicular units (hair strand) are present in a cm2 of the scalp of a person without hair-loss problem. 50% or more hair-loss of these numbers, causes a noticeable thinning in a person's hair. If a hair transplantation with 50 hair strands or more in one cm2 on a completely hairless area is performed, a beautiful density is achieved on that area. If the hair transplantation is performed with 30 - 40 grafts (66 - 88 hair strands) in a cm2, this is called dense packing.

If the width of the hair transplantation area and hair density of the donor area are sufficient, it is possible to perform uniform dense packing on all hairless area. This needs to be decided by your doctor who will perform your procedure, by examining you. Thickness of your hair (thin, normal, thick), being straight, curly or wavy, can change the planning of dense packing. If you have thin and straight hair strands, you can get a dense hair appearance if a higher amount of transplantation per cm2 is performed.

If you have thick, wavy or curly hair, you can get a satisfactory appearance even though a less amount of transplantation per cm2 is performed. For performing dense packing, thin grafts and opening of thin canals are needed. For this, the grafts to be extracted from the donor area, should be extracted with fine punches. The canals to be opened in the transplantation area, should be opened with thin slits as well. Thereby, closer and more canals can be opened per unit area. Opening close canals with thick slits, increases tissue damage and causes necrosis risk. For these reasons, close canals per unit area should not be opened with thick slits.